Poker Tips

Introduction.

Even a monkey can pick up these poker tips.

 Some people view the game of poker as being utterly mysterious and unfathomable, whereas in actual fact it is exactly the same as any other card game. The first fundamental basic of poker is to understand that you’re playing a game in which you will probably never know, let alone see, exactly what everyone else has and so, unlike in a board game, you’re playing the game without all of the information being available to you. Which leads to the second basic and fundamental principle of poker, in that your ability to win at poker depends on your ability to fill in those missing bits of information to correctly determine which cards your opponent is most likely to have.

Applying the first and second basics to your and your opponents play.

Even if your opponent actually shows you their cards - don't change the way you'd play your hand!

 Having established the first and second basic principles of playing poker you have to think how they might impact on your own play. Well, a third fundamental basic for playing poker is to always play to your own strength. If you’re reading this you’re probably not a very experienced poker player so it may seem strange what follows. However, ask an experienced poker player and they will agree with the following. Quite simply the third basic principle of playing poker means that you should always play your hand the same way regardless of how confident you might be with regard to the cards your opponent has. Providing you do this you will gain. However, should choose to play your hand differently under such the situation of ‘knowing’ what your opponent has – your opponent will gain instead!

Excuse me – what?

Whoops - that's the wrong kind of 'draw'!

Yes, you can be excused for initially reading that as being somewhat nonsensical and ‘double-speak’. Surely, you will think, if you knew or could see their cards you must be on to a winner in the next play you make? The problem here is that knowing what your opponent has would mean that you will also think you know the correct play to make at that moment. Imagine a draw game and your opponent knows that you’ve got a flush ahead of the draw. Your opponent would probably throw in a pair of aces as you bet, his calling would be a mistake brought about because he knew your hand. If he hadn’t known your hand, he would have played in his, or her, usual way. Calling with a pair of aces isn’t necessarily a bad play, but it is probably a play he or she wouldn’t normally make in a draw game. In other words, too much information about your opponent’s hands in a game of poker can make you jump to a wrong decision too quickly.

So, can you gain if your bet’s called and you lose?

OK, it’s your bet on a hand that you know isn’t as good as your opponents. Unfortunately your opponent knows your hand’s not strong and calls you – sure enough you lose. That is you lose that bet, but overall you will have gained. How can that be? Simply that your opponent, in knowing what you had, couldn’t resist the temptation to ‘cash in’, there and then on your weakness. What your opponent should really have done is maximize their takings from you. All they had to do was raise, if you followed them – they could have won more off you, so in effect you have gained in not losing more. Or better still, if your nerve held, they might have even folded and you could have truly gained on them.

Getting your opponents to play incorrectly.

Is he trying to get her to make a mistake - or is he mistaking this game of poker for "The Blues Brothers"?

 Of course there’d be no point in explaining this to you if you couldn’t deliberately turn it to your advantage at some point in a game of poker. As previously stated readers of this may well be relative beginners at poker, and one of the ways to move up from the ranks of playing like a beginner is to get your opponent to make mistakes. Yes, you’re probably ahead of me already, one way to do that is to let your opponent think that they know what you’re holding. This invariably means they will then play in a manner that is uncharacteristic of them, certainly different to what they would do if they didn’t know what you have – and, at least relatively, lose. Remember, the objective is to get them to play in a way that they wouldn’t have – if they hadn’t ‘known’ what cards you had. Meanwhile, if you ‘know’ your opponent’s hand you’ll win by playing as closely as possible to the way you would have done – had you not known what your opponent was holding. Some of this, of course, simply comes down to not giving away tells and playing deceptively. It is a truly fine art getting your opponent to convince themselves that they know what you’ve got, without giving away a tell.

So in simple terms …

I bet she plays poker to her strengths?

 In simple terms it comes down to playing your hand based on your strengths and a determination to maximize what you take from your opponents, rather than just simply winning a hand. Also, never forget that sure you might be able to pick up some ideas as to what cards an opponent might have but, and this is the whole essence of poker, you never know until the river what your opponent is really going to have and everything else is pure speculation and conjecture. All you can do is play to the strength of your own game and don’t let the blood rush to your head and make any rash decisions.